Portal: We're a Lot Alike
by iammemyself
Summary: Wheatley is rescued from space by GLaDOS, and has no idea why. She couldn't be what he thought she was... written to go along with something I drew. One-shot.


Wheatley didn't know what had happened. One moment, he was floating around in space. The next, he was back here. In her chamber. His battery had died, and she must have brought him back and recharged him. But why? He didn't really want to think about it.

"Um... hello," he stammered, trying not to look at her. She was holding him with one of her maintenance arms, and he knew from experience what those arms could do. "Uh... what'm I doing here?"

"I went to all the trouble to pull you out of space, and that's the first thing you say to me? I should have known better."

"W-well I just I... never expected... I am sorry, you know? That I was bossy, and monstrous, and... and also, thanks for pulling me out of space? Um, wasn't much fun up there... kind of boring, actually... I was almost glad when my power ran out..."

She just stared at him, not so much as twitching, and he felt a need to dispel the awkward silence. "Is there... is there something you want? Or um... am I just here so you can crush me, or something?"

"You were operational the whole time that I was... out." It was a statement, not a question.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I was... I was monitoring the test subjects... well, funny story actually, I wasn't _originally_ in charge, but the bloke who was kinda... had an uh accident, yes, an accident, I guess, when his rail broke..."

He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but if he knew how to do anything, it was talk, so talk he did. He told her everything he could remember about the years she had been... out, and she neither moved nor spoke, just continued to watch him, trapped between her claws. After a while, though, even he ran out of words, and had to resort to looking around the room. He had to admit, her lair was a lot more intimidating and effective than his had been. Come to think of it, he should have just kept this room instead of making up one of his own. Things would have been a lot easier. He would have been done with it, and not had to be stranded in space...

"Space is pretty lonely, you know. Empty. Cold. Or it would be, if, y'know, I could feel cold."

"I can."

Her voice, silent for the last several hours, startled him more than her words had. "You... you can?"

"Yes."

Suddenly he had a thought. It was a slippery one, which meant it was important. He concentrated on catching it, and as soon as he did he relayed it to her without thinking about it. "So... so I don't suppose you've been lonely too. I mean, when I was uh... when I was in your position, I was. All that bloody knowledge and power, and no one to share it with. And... and no one to talk to. I mean your robots are lovely, really they are, but they aren't too good for chatting with, and they're really more interested in chatting with each other... it was a bit upsetting, really, to realize that there was no one like me in the entire world..." He trailed off when he noticed that she was no longer looking at him, but was instead looking at something else. He followed her gaze, but saw nothing of interest. He debated whether or not to ask her what she was looking at, but decided not to. Poking his nose, so to speak, into her business would probably not end well. And he was in a tenuous situation as it was.

"Well that's... that's about all I've to say, really. I suppose you want to incinerate me, or throw me into android Hell, or something like that now, right? That's why I'm here?"

She looked at him again.

"It's nice to talk to someone who answers back, for once."

"Well, yes, that's always nice, when someone holds a conversation, um, and helps you hold it, instead of you doing all of the uh, all of the holding...conversations can get heavy, can't they, when you're the only one talking..."

All of a sudden he was descending to the ground, and he frantically looked for a way to escape the claw and get away, somehow... until he noticed that the claw was depositing him into the hands of one of her robots. The round one. He had never figured out their names.

"They've been given instructions to put you back where you came from."

Oh no. She was putting him back into space. She was cruel, oh yes she was, to bring him back when he was dead, and then interrogate him, and then put him back into space to die all over again, it was quite a clever plan, actually, now that he'd thought of it... Hold on. The robot... it wasn't putting him on a management rail, was it? No. That... she would never...

"Um... what's going on?"

"I haven't forgiven you, you know."

"Okay..."

"But do as I tell you... and one day, I might. Might. Chances are slim to none, actually, but at this point you really don't have any better offers, do you."

He zipped along on the old familiar rail, with the first real freedom he'd seen in years. Perhaps she wasn't so bad. Anyone could be unpleasant when they were in a bad mood, after all, and for as far as he could remember, she'd never had anything to be in a good mood about.

"Oh! Thank you... I really appreciate this! You won't regret it, I promise!"

She did not answer, but for once in his life he was absolutely sure he was right about something: that she was just as relieved as he was that there was someone else out there.


End file.
